jaymacfla

It really started for me back in 1994 with my then bride of only 2 years, although I claim the last 15 years as a serious BF expert. In the early years, we would go to Walmart. For some reason back then, not all Walmarts in my area were created equal and some did not carry the same stock. Does anybody remember the razor scooter frenzy??? During those times, I often would venture out alone. In the early 2000's I noticed a change toward lining up for what you wanted. It always seemed to be some young married guy, huddled with a girlfriend (ahh, the romance of it...). It was at this time when I got into computers very heavy and found that I could line up early at CompUSA and then be back before Walmart opened up to help out the wife with the rest of our shopping(we also hit up the smaller stores!). We did this for many years and eventually I was #1 at CompUSA consistently through 2003. I had learned how to play the game and win at it, but all that would change when a detour to Best Buy in 2003 changed the way I would shop for electronics to this day. Again, I had to beat out the guys with girlfriends, coworkers, and friends who competed with me to line up for deals. What once took hours of committment, now took over a day. By 2006 tents were a requirement for success, and by 2009 long haul camping was the only way to go. Every year, the media makes it harder for us to keep under the radar, so who knows how long it will take this year, or next!!!

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Here is a nice video that Best Buy put out to showcase the first people in line. Note that the lady specifies Saturday as the day they will celebrate thanksgiving.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMs8qC2pAME

Yours truly in the midst of Black Friday madness!

A few days ago, I reconnected with my childhood friend who was my next door neighbor and is Jewish. One thing that always stood out was his bragging over how he got a present every night during Hanukkah. I would always counter with, "My mother always gives us ten presents. you only get eight!" Through our recent conversation, he discovered that 4 of my siblings are Jewish, although my mother usually discouraged gift giving during this time due to Christmas being celebrated by all 8 children.

This guy just wants his TV.....

Photo #1 "I drop one item and I'm banned from the store?" "Look, my husband could fix this!!!!!" Photo #2 3 seconds before this photo was taken....."I am Bigjimslade, and the porta-potty is now closed!" Photo #3 "I'll get a tent, and you'll get a cart, honey, honey"......

It looks as if partial deal leaks are starting to come in. Petsmart will give out stockings to the first 100. http://www.howtoshopforfree.net/forum/black-friday-2013/petsmart-black-friday-2013-leak-free-stockings/#p88803

Brave was one of the great deals and was fortunately available later in the day at my rural Walmart. I have had great success picking up the Bluray deals after my Best Buy trip.

Here is an interesting article on early predictions: http://www.examiner.com/article/black-friday-2013-predictions-include-thanksgiving-day-sales-and-deals Note the HDTV prices!

Awesome! No shopping cart!!!!!

Please edit your pins! If you do not add your name or a description, the default is a pin with just a number.

Check their return policy. My guess is that you can buy it now, and then aviod the panic if a better deal does not materialize.

Legos will always have a place in my heart from my childhood. That being said, I do not miss the children leaving them everywhere for you to step on. It is great to be a Grandparent. I now send the trojan horse over to the now grown up children's house in the form of a Christmas present for their children. The larger the set, the better the payback......

I have moved away from the concept of a kindle fire due to the lack of a Micro/SD slot. I am not trusting my personal files to the cloud, no matter what they claim. Samsung makes tablets which can take 32GB cards(64GB partitioned), and we use it all of the time when we travel. The GPS feature is great as is the long battery life.

I would hope so, but there has to be movement on ultrabooks sometime soon, otherwise, you may see some deals on the Chromebooks for about $150-$175, or possibly full price with a GC.

Have you ever considered camping out before? How did this all start, and why? Why is it becoming the norm and will it ever stop? If I did camp, what to bring? There are a million questions and there is hope for the rookies out there. We have some of the most educated, and innovative camping veterans that have perfected their strategy right here on GottaDeal. Now is the time to make an assessment of your stock of supplies and plan for purchases which do not involve a whole lot of money to make it happen. I am inviting my fellow camping vets on here(you know who you are!) to message me on a time when you can be online to answer any questions folks may have, since this seems to be the planning season for most as they patiently await the ads to roll in. In the meantime, I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability on this issue. Please keep in mind that I live in Florida and camping conditions here can range from hot to freezing cold, with rain mixed in at times! I have some good friends, including TAZ , DAD2TRIPS, (KLOWN,please chime in also!!!)who can specialize your campout for northern climes. BIGJIMSLADE is one of the absolute best authorities on camping in the southwestern climes, and if a few others from the midwest and other left coasters chime in, we can really contribute to the climate factors which must be overcome for such an expenditure of time and resources. A few of us have made videos and camping 101 how to threads. Some of these can be found on the site here. by searching the archives. I also thought it would be fun for anybody to post videos or news reports involving their capout here. Reports of lines and rumors of lines....have you seen any? Post your sightings here with pictures and videos if you can!

Remember that sometimes the final price is not listed, as the Best Buy RCA TV deal from 2003 had a gift card. When the deal changed to Warehouse stock, the manager in my case was able to immediately apply a discount to the TV. There were 50 very happy customers that day, and that started my transition from loyal CompUSA customer, to Black Friday camper!

We have the Samsung galaxy tab. We love the ability to expand it with up to 32 GB of additional storage. It is great for games, music and especially movies.

The only way a shopping cart could look cool is if the cart had a stick figure (driver) bowling over other stick figures which in turn looked like bowling pins themselves...

Should this thread be closed, or is another chat going to be scheduled?

$320 with rewards bucks! Going strong in the MBR. The 40 incher is on the computer I am typing on right now....

The earlier opening times are great for places like Best Buy. I have heard all of the complaints about thursday, but realistically, we must move on from that unless online shopping is your thing. Saturday is the new Thursday when it comes to having the family over for dinner. Once you make the change, your life will once again get used to this weekend strategy change. I enjoy looking over the spoils of Black Friday, with a hearty dinner as a reward!

SteamOS is coming out. It is a new operating system which is based upon a Linux build, but has been structured to run most games. Where the system shines, is it's ability to allow the user the ability to stream games, movies and music among shared devices. Many are hoping that this will eventually usurp any console out there, due to the PC being the stronger candidate from the upgradeability standpoint. Steam will roll out a FREE operating system, and it can be downloaded and set up on almost any PC. Since it is Linux based, it can be dual booted as well. You will have access to your Steam library, since the games are tied to your account, not the machine. Steam will eventually roll out their own Steambox in the near future. I am hearing that this may be customized by the end user as well. Many modern PCs can be upgraded with ram, video card or bluray player as the customer sees fit. This will allow you to have the best of both worlds. From this platform, you can run all of your PCs, share the games, and get great deals on games from all of the indie game resellers out there, usually 8 or more games(a good portion are AAA games) bundled for about $6. The major problem with consoles is the cost of the games, which can be prohibitive to most budgets. For parents on a tight budget, this is a godsend, since you can buy games super cheap (I can list links upon demand) and your children can access them through each other's computer on your own home network.

ACE HARDWARE 10/11